November 14, 2022 – It is no surprise that “Thirteen Lives,” directed by Ron Howard is an amazing rescue adventure story. Howard is an accomplished director who excels in making these kinds of docudramas and biographical dramas like “Rush,” “Apollo 13” and “Cinderella Man.”

Last year, I saw a documentary about the same historical event (the 2018 cave rescue of a youth soccer team trapped by rising water in Tham Luang cave in Thailand) depicted in this docudrama, National Geographic's brilliant “The Rescue,” so I couldn't help but view this new film through the lens of that 2021 film.

In addition to what I noticed was left out of the second film, I also noticed the details that the new film fills in, such as the heroic effort and sacrifices made by local volunteers led by a water technician from Bangkok, Thanet Natisri (played by Naphand Boonyai “No Escape”) to reduce the amount of water getting into the cave through sink holes higher up on the mountain.

Another thing that comes through more clearly in the new film is the difficulty and complexity of the decisions faced by local officials in charge of the rescue, led by Chiang Rai, the acting Governor of the province (played by Sahajak Boonthanakit of “Fistful of Vengeance”).

The importance of the soccer coach's leadership in the survival of the boys is also made clearer in this new movie. Assistant Coach Ekkapol Chanthawong's (played by Teeradon Supapunpinyo) meditation lessons not only calms the boys, but helps to conserve the oxygen supply in the cave chamber where they are trapped. This movie also reveals that several people involved are stateless refugees, who are later granted Thai citizenship for their heroism.

The story centers around two of the most experienced cave divers in the world, Rick Stanton (Viggo Mortensen of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy) and John Volanthen (Colin Farrell of “Dumbo”) of the British Cave Rescue Council. One interesting detail from the documentary that was left out of the docudrama is a local woman, Amp Bangnoen, who just happens to know Rick Stanton, and who calls him about the team trapped in the cave.

Volanthen and Stanton are the first divers to reach the trapped soccer team, and it is they, along with cave diver and anesthesiologist Richard Harris (Joel Edgerton of “Red Sparrow”) who come up with unprecedented, risky plan to rescue the trapped team. The experienced divers decide that an ordinary rescue is out of the question since the conditions in the cave are too extreme for success.

The plan involves rendering each member of the soccer team, and the coach, unconscious during the hours long underwater journey from the cave. The rescued boys and man would become “packages,” eliminating their fear, claustrophobia and panic. Those inevitable panic attacks would make the rescue impossible.

Even this rescue plan is considered impossible by Harris, Stanton and Volanthen, but they know the trapped team faces certain death from rising water and lack of oxygen if they don't try something. The movie includes some great underwater scenes illustrating the difficulty and danger of the conditions in the cave. By necessity these scenes don't show more realistic conditions of the rescue where underwater visibility was practically zero.

The movie also includes an interesting dynamic between Stanton and Volanthen. The two men are friends and they respect each other, but nevertheless are constantly arguing and bickering. Volanthen, especially seems pessimistic, iconoclastic, cynical and very outspoken. The movie also shows one of the two deaths that befall the rescue team, both of them Thai divers.

This is a really good movie, full of drama and heroism, but I couldn't help comparing it to National Geographic's documentary film depicting the same rescue. This one just isn't quite as good. This one rates a B+ while last year's documentary rates an A.

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